Bears aren't the only team Pete Carroll is interested in coaching

Former Seattle Seahawks head coach and Super Bowl champion Pete Carroll is looking to return to NFL sidelines next season.

Carroll was amiably forced out of his job with the Seahawks, who hired Mike Macdonald to run operations in his stead, but Carroll has remained active and interested in another coaching job. His first reported interview of the 2025 coaching carousel was rather juicy — the Chicago Bears.

It both makes all the sense in the world and no sense at all.

The Bears are tired of rampant incompetence, which Carroll should dispatch with. He's an established winner, boasting a career record of 291-170 across 18 NFL seasons. Few coaches know the intricacies of contending and managing egos quite like Carroll. He has two losing seasons in his entire career. Consistency is a staple of Pete Carroll football teams.

That said, Carroll is also 73 years old. As the Bears look to build their future around former No. 1 pick Caleb Williams, one might argue that a younger head coach is preferable. Carroll probably retires within the next handful of years, and there's no shortage of examples of successful, longtime head coaches who lose their fastball. The NFL is a constantly evolving organism. It passes even the best coaches by. Just ask Bill Belichick.

Now, however, another team has joined the fray for Carroll.

Enter the Las Vegas Raiders.

Raiders join Bears in line to interview Pete Carroll for head coaching job

This, once again, makes sense and doesn't at the same time.

Of course Tom Brady, who is exerting significant control over front office functions in Las Vegas, is keen on cycling through the more established options on the market. He phoned a friend in Bill Belichick but was seemingly rebuffed. Carroll has ample postseason experience under his belt and carries a certain aura about him. There is instant respect paid when Pete Carroll is your coach.

That said, the Raiders are probably starting an inexperienced quarterback next season, maybe even a rookie. This is a team at the front end of a rebuild, looking to forge a sustainable path forward. Is Carroll, at his age, the right coach to lead Las Vegas into the future? Perhaps not. Ultimately, that is up to Brady and Raiders ownership.

It's worth noting that Las Vegas has also fired GM Tom Telesco. Carroll still has significant cachet. If the Raiders wanted to really win him over, perhaps there's a GM-coach dual role available. That seems unlikely, but Las Vegas is no stranger to head-scratching decisions stemming directly from ownership. If nothing else, the Raiders would need to find a GM who Carroll respects, and vice versa.

Carroll is still an excellent head coach. He was dependable right up to his last moments in Seattle. The age concerns are valid, but it's hard to look past the resume. Carroll constructed the Legion of Boom. He is one of his generation's greatest defensive minds. Both Chicago and Las Vegas are moving on from defensive coaches — and could therefore prefer a more offense-first approach, especially the Bears — but Carroll's candidacy transcends such labels. He is a future Hall of Fame coach. Of course both organizations want him in the building for an interview.